Aku-Aku came into being in 1968 when Bobby Seto bought nearby Polynesian Village and moved it to this new location with a new name. The front entrance was flanked by two very tall moai that originally were at the Polynesian Village.

The back wall had a mural of Polynesian scenes running its entire length.

Aku-Aku closed in April 2000, and the location is now Jasper White's Summer Shack. The left moai is gone, but the right moai remains, undercover as a bearded fisherman clad in yellow rain gear.

This pre-tiki cafe was open from 1950 to 1963.

In the cabaret field, Montreal, during the 1950s, continued to be considered one of the most important cities in America. New York and Las Vegas came first and second; Montreal ranked third.

Many film and television stars were applauded in Montreal in the early 50s. Chez Parée was the leader. The management of this cabaret presented Dorothy Lamour, Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, Billy Daniels, Peggy Lee, Sophie Tucker, Nelson Eddy, all stars who earned more than $5,000 a week in fees. Others that were very popular with Montreal night owls included the Montmartre, where the "color" shows were in the spotlight, the Mocambo, the CAFE HALE HAKALA, the Domino, the Astor, the Copacabana, the Esquire, the Beaver, the Café du Palais, the Plaza, the Savoy, the Lido Inn, the Casino Français, and the Café de l'Est.

In the mid-1950s, Jean Drapeau ran for mayor and got a mandate. Drapeau claimed he wanted to “clean up” Montreal, and his administration began a fierce battle against “immorality.” Most of the establishments that made Montreal famous did not survive.

The arrival of television in the homes of Montrealers also struck cabarets. All of a sudden, people needn’t go out for entertainment; it was right there in their living room. The public’s interest for live performances decreased considerably.

Even if some cabarets were still active and fairly popular in the 1960s, the industry slowed down drastically, and disappeared completely by the 1970s. Many of the buildings that formed the “Red Light” were destroyed to build the Ville-Marie highway and the Habitations Jeanne-Mance, a complex of low-rent apartments, among other things.

Built in 1962.

This manufactured home community consists of 90 one-story units.

The community lies very near the Pacific Ocean, and once boasted a Manager's Office built to look like a long house, with two large tikis guarding the entrance. The tikis were removed sometime @2006, and today nothing noteworthy remains.

Opened in 1995, this was a store in Venice owned by Joe O’Brien, a surfer who followed his passion for the ocean and incorporated it into his interior design, collecting vintage items that brought that tropical beach feel. Joe's wares included reproduced vintage fabrics as well as authentic beach furniture from a time gone by.

It is now home to Pretties, a lingerie shop.

The Caliente Tropics Resort began its life as simply "The Tropics" when it was opened in 1964 by Ken Kimes. Kimes owned 40 motels, and five of them were the Polynesian-themed Tropics chain with locations in Blythe, Indio, Modesto and Rosemead. The Kimes family later earned headlines when Ken's wife Sante and son Kenny were wanted, and later tried & convicted, for a variety of crimes including murder and kidnapping.

In its '60s heyday, the Tropics, especially its Congo Room steakhouse and underground Cellar bar, attracted the celebrities of the era who lived and vacationed in Palm Springs, including members of the Rat Pack. The front of the resort held a Sambo's coffee shop. In later years, the Cellar bar was closed, and the Congo Room (1964 - 1971) became the Reef Bar.

The Tropics fell into rough times in the '80s, attracting unsavory characters who disrespected the hotel. The hotel was rescued by new owners in 2000, and after a $2.2 million renovation, it was restored to its former tiki glory.

A couple years later the Reef Bar was remodeled to bring it up to speed with the newly refreshed hotel, with bamboo work by Bamboo Ben. In 2006, the Reef Bar was transferred to independent owners, and was called Hawaiian Bill's.

In 2009, the Reef Bar/Hawaiian Bill's had been gutted of all tiki details, and the hotel was advertising the restaurant/bar space on site as available for lease. They were planning on making some major architectural changes to the building, including the removal of an A-frame entrance to the bar and restaurant. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

In 2015, new hotel owners reinvested in the tiki theming, having the artist Bosko complete large tiki signs ringing the courtyard, representing different Polynesian islands. The grounds still have several detailed vintage tikis by carver Ed Crissman.

In February 2017, Rory Snyder took over and refreshed The Reef Bar overlooking the pool.

In Summer of 2022, Snyder added Sancho's Mexican Restaurant and a second bar, Le Fern.

*This site was the original host of the ever-growing Tiki Oasis event (2001-2005), before it moved to the San Diego Crowne Plaza (2006-2019), and was briefly held at San Diego's Paradise Point (2020) before moving to San Diego's Town and Country in 2021.

**Since 2009, Caliente Tropics resort has been host to the annual Tiki Caliente event (as well as other tiki events like Circa Caliente) which some describe as a smaller and more intimate version of what Tiki Oasis is like now. The resort also sees a great deal of traffic during Palm Springs' Modern Week.

Opened circa 2015.

This is about as far from a themed & decorated poly-pop tiki bar as you can get with its all-white walls, ceiling, and bar.

It sort of looks like an empty apartment that somebody just filled with some wicker furniture and bar supplies.

However, the bar looks to be well stocked and they are said to have very good tropical drinks.

Closed circa 2022.

Opened in 2000 and closed in 2006.

This location was in the Sheraton Royal Gardens Hotel.

Built in 1964, the Tiki Apartments in Canoga Park was a multi-family 2 story construction with 5+ units (17 beds and 47 baths).

It is unclear how long many of the tiki elements held on, but most were certainly gone after the Northridge Earthquake in 1994.

As of 2025, the only vestiges of its original construction are the sections covered by lava rock and the A-frame in the center.

This tiki adjacent location opened in the 1980s and closed in 2000.

No tikis to be seen and the Caribbean is not the South Pacific, so wrong body of water....however this was a hugely influential bar and (along with pop culture influences like the TV series LOST) has inspired many modern tiki locations. Last Rites bar in San Francisco seems to echo the theme and carry on the crash landing tradition. The Jet Set bar in Newburgh, NY also had a plane fuselage for customers to sit in (closed in 2024). Many other tiki bars incorporate aviation history into their interiors, from newspapers about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, to propellers and other repurposed plane parts, to aviation pinups, or nostalgic 1960s travel posters and memorabilia from the Golden Era of plane travel. Aviation may not be quite as popular as nautical on the Tiki Venn Diagram of sub-categories, but it definitely has a presence. Perhaps the future of this trend lies with Mothership in San Diego -- Mothership goes sci-fi and explores the crash landing theme on an alien planet!

The Caribbean Zone was located in the SOMA district of San Francisco. It was hidden under a now defunct freeway overpass in an alley behind a bus terminal, next door to what was then Club DV8. Their kitchen was actually located inside of Club DV8, and when it went under during the dot com bubble, so did the Caribbean Zone. They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot. Literally.

The theme of the restaurant was an airplane that crash landed in a tropical jungle. It was a full restaurant that served Caribbean fare, such as Jamaican Jerk Chicken, and fried plantains. Drinks were also Caribbean style, with choices like a Bahama Mama, Goomba Boomba, or a Mai Tai with pineapple juice served in a brandy snifter.

You would approach a small looking quansit hut in the middle of what was then a semi industrial wasteland. You entered through a plain non-descript door, and then you would be immediately whisked away to a tropical paradise.

The back bar was actually the fuselage of a DC-3, at one time the actual tour plane for the Doobie Bros. Someone bought it, removed the wings, and installed it as the back bar. The cool thing was, you could actually go up into the plane, and have cocktails! The waitresses would come up and take your order, then return with your drinks. And they had placed small tv screens on the outside of the plane windows, so when you looked outside, it gave the illusion that you were flying.

There was a lot of great tropical foliage throughout the restaurant, and there was a huge waterfall feature in the back, that was big and loud enough that you could not carry a conversation if you were seated next to it. There also was a banquet room that sat about a dozen people, and it was done up like a cave with stone walls.

This resort started out with much more of a Polynesian flair originally in 1950. However, the main A-frame bungalow had its thatching and decor removed and the Castaways Restaurant became the Mad Hatter Restaurant in the 1980s.

Castaways Cottages on Sanibel Island was severely damaged and closed beyond repair by Hurricane Ian in September 2022, with plans from the resort company to eventually create a new beach resort experience.

The restaurant is now completely gone as of 2025 and the A-frame bungalow is boarded up and damaged, but still standing.

This speakeasy tiki bar bills itself as Bentonville's worst kept secret.

Set behind the facade of a very clean, stylishly sterile gallery setting (the Midnight Gallery with its eye-popping art from local artists) lurks the surprise world of Callisto.

Isaak and Gabriel Barrett opened the bar November 1st, 2024. The space is owned by Casey and Hannah Roberts.

This bar skews light on tiki decor but does have some bamboo trim, some tiki masks, wall art, faux greenery, rattan swag lamps in the seating areas, and fish floats.

The tile work, dark wood paneling, tin ceiling tiles, and Edison bulbs above the bar all seem like they belong to another speakeasy concept ready to emerge should the tropical aspect fail...

The centerpiece is an artificial tree in the back seating area adorned with fish floats -- created out of steel by a local sculptor.

The most impressive aspect of this bar is not its decor, but its cocktail menu, which is stellar and looks like it could punch above its weight class with more immersive style tiki bars like Undertow, etc...